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Asymptomatic Polycystic Ovaries Not Tied to Infertility
Wed Oct 15, 5:41 PM ET

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If a woman is seen to have polycystic ovaries on an ultrasound exam but doesn't have any symptoms, then she can be reassured that her fertility is not likely to be affected, a new study shows.

In polycystic ovary syndrome, as the name implies, a woman's ovaries develop multiple cysts. Symptoms can include excessive hairiness, obesity, menstrual abnormalities, and infertility. All of this may be caused by abnormally high production of male hormones in the ovaries.

Ultrasound scanning has become the standard for diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome, explain the authors of an article in the journal Fertility and Sterility. However, many women who have polycystic ovaries detected by ultrasound have no features of the syndrome.

Mohamed A. M. Hassan and Dr. Stephen R. Killick from University of Hull, UK, set out to see if asymptomatic women found to have polycystic ovaries by ultrasound took longer to conceive or were subfertile compared to women with normal appearing ovaries.

More than one third of 210 women with polycystic ovary appearance on ultrasound were without symptoms, the duo reports.

Asymptomatic women with polycystic ovaries had a mean time-to-pregnancy similar to that of women with normal ovaries who were included in the study for comparison purposes, the researchers found, and they were no less fertile than women with normal ovaries.

On the other hand, as expected, women with symptomatic polycystic ovary syndrome did take longer to become pregnant and were much more likely to be subfertile.

"Based on the available evidence, asymptomatic women who are found to have appearance of polycystic ovaries can be told that the incidental finding of polycystic ovaries is common," Hassan told Reuters Health. "In the absence of relevant symptoms, women can be reassured that this finding does not have a significant impact on their fertility."

However, Hassan cautioned, "they should be advised to closely observe their weight, as excessive weight gain in these cases could be associated with a negative effect not only on their fertility but also on their general health."

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, October 2003.

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